With marketing information and research results collected, it’s now the responsibility of marketers to share this information internally with people who need to understand it. It’s standard practice to hold meetings with appropriate team members to walk through the research findings and brainstorm together about how to apply the results to marketing strategy and operations. It’s also good practice to make the research report available on a company intranet or other central forum, where people who need the information can readily find and access it.
The reception to research results may vary from person to person or from team to team. In some cases, where marketers have been waiting on the research results before they move forward, the new information fills a gap in their knowledge. They are likely very eager to take guidance from the research and charge ahead. In other cases, marketers may have a vested interest in continuing to do the things they’ve always done—perhaps because they dislike change or because they think the original course of action is still working. In these situations, if the research suggests that a course change is necessary, there may be significant resistance.
Start Conversations About New Customer Insights
To help encourage a better reception to what the organization is learning from marketing information, it may be useful to review the original problem the research is trying to solve. Remind team members that the goal of using marketing information is to gain new customer insights that will help make the organization more effective. With this in mind, marketers should think about how the research results can help them better understand customers and translate this understanding into adjustments to the marketing mix to better address customers’ needs. By framing research results around a deeper or broader understanding of the customer, it can help defuse resistance and make people feel more informed and empowered to make good marketing decisions.
The following section lists the types of questions marketers can explore as they brainstorm about how marketing information and research results can help them adjust marketing strategy and improve the marketing mix. These questions are a useful jumping-off point for deeper conversations about new customer insights and how to put them into action.
USING MARKETING INFORMATION TO SHAPE MARKETING STRATEGY: TYPES OF QUESTIONS TO EXPLORE
Target Segment(s)
- What new insights do we have about our target segment(s)?
- Which problems should we be solving for our customers?
- Are we targeting the right segments?
Product
- What attracts customers to our products?
- What improvements would make them even more attractive to our target segments?
Promotion
- What types of messages will make target segments want our products?
- What types of promotional campaigns will work best for each target segment?
- Who do out target segments listen to, and what are they saying about us?
Price
- How are we going at providing good value for the price?
- How does out pricing affect customers’ willingness to buy?
- How would changes to pricing affect sales?
Place
- Are we offering our products in the places and times that target segments feel the need for them? If now, how can we improve?
- How can we make it easier for customers to find and buy our products?
- Are there more efficient ways for us to get out products into customers’ hands?
Don’t Forget to Measure Impact
As marketers begin to apply the research findings and recommendations, it is essential to track the impact of the new strategy to determine whether the original problem or challenge is being addressed. If the original marketing problem was focused on improving the messaging associated with a product, for example, then the organization should start to see improved lead generation, inquiries, and/or sales once the new messaging is adopted and implemented. If the original marketing problem was focused on which segments to target and how to reach them, organizations should be able to track improvements in interest and sales among these segments after they have begun to implement a market mix focused on these segments.
This link between taking action and measuring results is important. It provides a continuing stream of marketing information to help marketers understand if they are on the right path and where to continue to make adjustments. Eventually this process will surface new marketing problems that warrant attention through the marketing research process. In this way, the process of using marketing information to solve problems becomes a continuous cycle.
